The following is a guest post by Joseph McDaniels.
Setting up a website can be a daunting task for those without specific experience, or for anyone who lacks computer skills.
Fortunately, as the Internet has grown and expanded, it has become more and more accessible to just about everybody. Part of this process is the emergence of companies that exist to help people set up their own websites. You may have had an idea for a website at some point and really wished you could set it up and get it online; but you didn’t know how to start.
Really, it is as easy as typing in a name for your web site and clicking a button that says “register domain name.” There are a lot of great companies you can choose to find domain names, such as Hostgator, GoDaddy, and Network Solutions.
Your website’s domain name is simply what it is called, or what you would type in to visit it. For example, Google at some point purchased the domain name “google.com,” meaning that it owns that name for its website. With companies like Network Solutions, you are able to type in the domain name you wish to use for your future website, and run a search to see if the name is available. Once you find a name that you like that is also available, you can go about purchasing it for yourself.
When choosing a domain name, there are certain things to consider. For example, it is almost always a bad idea to have a domain name that is too long or too complex, because people will be less likely to stumble upon your website, and it may be less likely to appear in relevant Google searches.
Let’s say you’ve started a bakery called Sue’s Bakery, in New York City. You don’t want the domain name “suesbakeryinnewyorkcity.com,” if instead you can have “suesbakery.com.” The more simple name is almost always the better name – if someone were to walk by your bakery in person and make a mental note to look it up to read its menu or check its hours, that person might be unable to find your website if it were as complicated as “suesbakeryinnewyorkcity.com” – however, “suesbakery.com” would probably be the first thing they tried. You can see how a simple domain name will likely bring more visitors to your site.
Another good idea when picking your domain name might be to register a few similar domain names as well. For example, make “suesbakery.com” your main website – but also purchase the rights to “suesbakery.org” or “suesbakeryny.com” for example, so that competitors cannot use these names for themselves. Essentially, you can monopolize the name of your website by also registering other, similar names.
Ultimately you have a lot of options when choosing a domain name, but these are some basic thoughts to help get you started.
Image credit: Shutterstock
Thanks for tips. I liked the idea about a few similar domain names, I had not thought about it
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Nice tip and thanks for the link to my post! I appreciate that. This article reminds me of a session that I listened to at an expo last year. The speaker was explaining how he got to be successful online. One of his tips was to reserve misspelled domain names and create a simple site to sell the same product. He explained that his competitors were doing all of the work promoting their sites and he was reaping the benefits of selling to people who landed on his domain by mistake.
This same tip applies to reserving the plural of the keyword in your domain name too. I always advise my clients to reserve several combinations of their domain names if for no other reason than to prevent someone else from owning them.
I like to find good domain names for my business but it is a little more challanging these days. My website has 5 domains directed to it now but still could use a few more. I am still learning about the marketing and would love to learn more.
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